June 28 (Bloomberg) -- The widening wealth gap is keeping
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing up at night and Asia’s richest
man warns it could become “the new normal” if left
unaddressed.

The government must introduce fresh impetus to enable
dynamic and flexible redistribution policies, Cheung Kong
Holdings Ltd. Chairman Li said when addressing students at
China’s Shantou University, according to a speech titled
"Sleepless in Hong Kong" posted on the website of the Li Ka
Shing Foundation yesterday. The growing scarcity of resources
and waning trust are also reasons he’s being deprived of sleep,
he said.

“The howl of rage from polarization and the crippling cost
of welfare dependence is a toxic cocktail commingled to stall
growth and foster discontent,” said Li, who turns 86 next
month. “Trust enables us to live in harmony, without which more
and more people will lose faith in this system, breeding
skepticism towards what is fair and just, doubting everything
and believing all has turned sour and rancid.”

Li’s comments come as the debate over how to elect Hong
Kong’s next leader in 2017 divides the city, with more than
750,000 people voting in an unofficial democracy poll. Lawyers
in the territory yesterday marched through the central business
district in silence, in protest against a Chinese policy paper
they said jeopardizes judicial independence, the South China
Morning Post reported today.

School Founder

Li ranks 17th among the world’s richest individuals with a
net worth of $32.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg
Billionaire Index. The businessman, who also controls Hutchison
Whampoa Ltd., wakes up at around 5 a.m. to listen to the news on
the radio and spends 90 minutes every day playing golf and
swimming.

Shantou University, founded in 1981 by Li, is the only
privately funded public university in China, according to its
website. The Li Ka Shing Foundation has donated HK$6 billion
($774 million) to the university, the website says.

Technology and innovation can increase options as resources
are becoming scarce, Li said in the speech. Government needs to
lead change and inject a “strong dose of liberating elixir”
into the education system, he said.

The failure to invest in education “is tantamount to a
crime against the future,” Li said.

Planned Protests

Organizers of Occupy Central with Love and Peace, who
oppose China’s plans to vet candidates for elections in Hong
Kong, say they intend to hold a sit-in in the city’s financial
district if electoral reforms don’t meet demands.

The planned protest has drawn opposition from groups
including the world’s four-biggest accounting companies, foreign
commerce chambers and brokers, who say it may lead to an exodus
of businesses from the city and hurt the economy.

The Hong Kong Association of Banks is concerned the planned
protests could get out of control and have a negative impact on
the city’s status as a global financial center, the Hong Kong
Economic Times reported today, citing association chairman He
Guangbei.

’Best Antidote’

“What is most unsettling for me is that trust, the bedrock
of an enlightened society, is crumbling before our eyes,” Li
said. “Without a modicum of trust, society will downward spiral
into a painful vicious cycle.”

Occupy Central activists have called on the Hong Kong and
Chinese governments to heed public opinion expressed through its
polls, while urging residents to join an annual protest march on
July 1, the anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule.
The activists want public nomination of election candidates.

“Today when you rang the bell of truth, what promise did
you make to the future? When dawn breaks, is today the tomorrow
you worried about yesterday?” Li said. “Your dedication and
undertaking to be the custodian of the future is the best
antidote for everyone’s insomnia.”